Extended School Year~ Its what they do.

Spencer, Celia, and Joseph all get to take the same bus to summer school. I really think they love being together. I can't believe how excited they are. I figured they have been watching Spencer travel on the bus for years. Celia just thinks its what you do. You wake up drink your "greg"(that is what her word for drink sounds like), get ready, and head off to school on the bus. With a backpack of course! She loves to wear one everywhere she goes, which is fantastic for her, just like having a mini occupational therapy session. I love getting all their lunches packed. Providing schedules, and order, including homemade and or packaged food, (eaten together or at school) really strengthens family ties.

My kids are very interested in what each other are into and up to. Emmy loves to hear about Celia's progress and is a real help in teaching her good habits and following through with our goals for Celia. Its amazing! Right now Emmy is determined to teach Celia how to ride a tricycle. Practice a little each day, I tell her. She wonders when Celia is going to get it hehe. Its great to teach Emelie that we can't push her around in her tricycle or she won't feel the need to peddle! Behavioral training at such a young age. Emmy will be such a prepared babysitter hehe:)

Each of my summer school kids get a ID tag on their backpack for riding the bus. It has their picture and their address on it. It makes them feel special and it makes me happy they are taking good care of my little ones while they are away. Joseph says I get two! One for being a summer school kid and one that says I ride with Spencer and Celia to our house! The bus drivers they have now knows all their names and are so nice and I can't help but be grateful for the service they provide to our family. Four weeks of Speech, Occupational Therapy, scheduled times for social interaction, toileting, centers for academics, play skills, and exercise for Spence and Celia's classes just couldn't be any better for them! And Joseph has five buddies in this class from Antelope Meadows and is keeping up his reading skills to make a great transition to third grade. Hooray!

Elephant Ride~

Tribute To Brian:)

First of all I want to thank Jan and Howard for raising such a wonderful son! He is organized and thoughtful and such a good husband, Father, boss, co worker, and great member of our community! A few of Brian's best attributes are that he is calm and level headed. He has a large amount of patience which is completely needed in this family hehe.:) No one is better with Spencer than him. He commands his attention and respect, yet is always loving, kind, and caring towards our sweet Spencer. Brian is the one who leaves church when Spencer acts up and also is the Go To guy when Spencer needs a ride no matter the time of day or night. Brian is observant and considerate. He knows what each of our likes and wants are and gets things for us on a daily basis! He totally spoils us all with our favorite drinks, food, music when we are around him. He does anything to make each of us smile. He is the comedian, clever one who lightens any rough situation and calms us. He is the supporter of our family!! He does a great job. We all are so grateful to have him and hope he has a fantastic Father's Day. We are going to love his best ever steak he grills! Are we blessed or what?!

Fun Friday~

Discovery Indeed!

We loved going to Discovery Kingdom. Misty had season passes and asked us to go with her and we were so glad we went. Spencer doesn't do crowds and lines and Celia was too little for the rides so they stayed home.:) Everything was new for us and what a wonderful variety of things to do! When we got there everyone was excited about the Tony Hawk Ride, a whole lot of twisting and turning like a skateboarder. Emelie let us know how much she loved any spinning rides and we all realized her love for it the rest of the day! She renamed this one super spinning ride (that I couldn't even watch) Awesomeness. Highlights of the day for me were getting completely soaked on the river rafting ride, seeing the tiger show, and riding a huge Elephant! I sure missed the rest of our family, but it was such a great experience!

Matching Eyes~

New Hobbies

Joseph has turned a new leaf! Its not all about video games anymore. He is reading the Hobbit and plans to watch the movie with dad very soon. Also, we had been talking about journal writing lately. Elder Eyring had a talk in General Conference about how he wrote in his journal nightly and tried to think of what the Lord had done for him in his life that day. He expressed what a grateful attitude it gave him and how he gained faith and felt love from our Heavenly Father. Emmy has been writing everyday since Brian's birthday 2007! Being the competitive type that Joseph is and not wanting to be left out Bri gave him a journal and he is recording his daily activities in it! Maybe he will realize what a great life he has since sometimes he forgets all the good and is very contrary! I'm thrilled he is becoming a reader/writer. I'm sure they will help me to remember all these times when I'm older and have lost my memory hehe.

BBQ and Swimming~

Enjoying Our Yard~

I've been so pleased lately at how much the kids are enjoying the backyard. We can stay out there for a long time and everyone is happy even Spencer who is such a wiggle worm that he never sits still. He has pulled over his trampoline next to some stacked up plastic chairs and lays out there with his feet up just singing and smiling in the sunshine. All the kids want to help me garden and are right there helping me to prune any bushes or water!! We have nature lovers! They also practice skateboarding and scootering, Celia is learning how, but would rather we drive her around the yard.~ In the summer we use our back patio to eat almost all of our meals, and with it being so warm lately we BBQ a lot. Today I used the BBQ for hamburgers for lunch and we swam in the hot tub. Okay maybe I should have let the kids in there as a pool before now, but they are really enjoying and appreciating it. I BBQed again for dinner this time Raspberry Chipotle Chicken. I was told I didn't make enough food. I think that means they liked it:)

Project Organization!

I am trying to adhere to the old adage; Less is More! We have a sweet little Spencer that obsesses about his clothes and changes several (like 9 times, no joke) a day. I have worried about what might happen if I remove his ten billion outfits from his wardrobe and let him wear what he had worn already that day! This maneuver has been many months in the planning. Luckily, I have help via a behaviorist through Capitol Autism services. She is a consultant to me once a week to help with Spencer's behavior! Together we will tackle the constant changing which as you can imagine amounts to insurmountable amounts of laundry! Ive gotten Joseph situated with hangers enough for ten pieces of each. I am learning so much. One thing I've learned is I am not going to wash old clothes or clothes that have holes , or towels that I've had since we were married?! I can feel the weight lifting off my shoulder already. After three yard size garbage bags of clothes gone, I feel great. When we had our floors redone, we moved everything out of each room and threw away so much that had cluttered our lives. Three trips to the dump and I still think we could go more! It is SO much easier to clean and to straighten and it feels great. We cannot take anything with us in the next life, why do we gather so much in this one to the point of bogging ourselves down. I have major plans for a garage overhaul and making our shed into a bike/scooter home. I wish someone would have told me when we were first married how much i wouldn't need all this "stuff". And that acummulation of things can choke you! Now I look at all my clothes/shoes/decorations and feel I don't need anything. Hooray :)

Me & Bri at the Game

Brian doesn't like to cooperate for photo opportunities! He and all his brothers pull goofy faces. I thought this one trumped all I've seen of those silly Davis Boys!